Skip to main content

The last lecture


It has been a while since I last wrote a blog entry. Past month was very hectic and sometimes life moves so fast that it does not give time to look back at it. It is however a silly thing to do as moving fast never allows us to enjoy the life as it goes and some day suddenly we feel that we don't have much time left to live. Anyway this post of mine is not about my bullshit philosophy but about a great book I read recently. The book is called "The Last Lecture". It is written by Dr Randy Pausch. He was a professor in the computer science department in Carnegie Mellon before he died on july25, 2008. He died of pancreatic cancer and this book is about the last lecture he gave after he was diagnosed of this terminal illness and was given just few months to live. It is a book about life from the eyes of a person who had just few days to live among his loved ones. It is about what matters in life and it is like a last letter he wrote for his kids to read it long after he is gone.

Let me brief you about some of the salient features of the book.

Fulfilling your childhood dreams - The author talks about his dreams and how he accomplished them. This is the main focus of his book and It shows the character of a man on deathbed talking about the dreams he had and how he fulfilled them. He talks about his dream quest of flying in zero gravity and being an Disney Imagineer. He talks about how he achieved everything he dreamt of while growing.

Helping others to fulfill their dreams - Being a teacher he talks about how he helped his students who worked with him and how he contributed in some small or big way fullfilling their dreams.

Dreams come to you - This is the crux of the book and his lecture where he said he beleived in the power of the karma and he talks about how working hard and honestly bring your dreams to you. There will always be a "Brick Wall" between you and your dreams and they are meant to test you , your effort is the price which you need to pay for your dream.

In short it was about how he lived his life and presents us as it is to pick some gems out of it. However if you read it carefully it is a voice of a dieing husband and a dieing father engraved in few pages for his kids to know who the person really was long after he is gone. Now as he is no longer there I feel talking to him through his book was a life changing experience..and I have started valuing my gift of life and my dreams a lot more..

Comments

Rinzu said…
we all need dream to live for...
else life would ne meaningless...
nice post...

:)
12:20 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

She is the one out there for me

She will always speak her mind but her silence says the thousand words She is strong enough to walk alone but wait for me to catch up at times She will lie for fun but is brutally honest when I need to hear it She is always near when I need her but will go away for letting me myself... She is the one out there for me.. She will walk in the rain like a free soul but can lock her self to finish her favorite book She is patient with my stupidity but will loose her cool when I procrastinate She will adapt to a change very quickly but will stubbornly fight if she is wronged.. She is fiercely independent but will take care of request people make She is the one out there for me.. She will worry about future but will enjoy each day as it comes She is conservative in her expectations but never shy away from giving everything she has She will be my glass mate if need be but will know when to stop me from drinking She is open to complaints but will put forward her case under any circumstance She ...
7 comments
Read more

Socialism and Individualism

I have discussed and debated at length about pros and cons of Socialism and Individualism with lots of people and have gained a lot from these conversations. I just want to summarize my views on these two contrasting systems. Individualism as a system emphasize on individual freedom, choice and reward over group laws and rules where as the socialism requires preference of social obligations over individual choice and freedom. Anyone can point out numerous flaws in both the systems in isolation but these two system can hardly survive of their own. It is the relative density of these two systems among cultures which decide its fate. We can observe various societies and nation states around the globe and conclude that political and social forces determine the density of either of the systems. Now the question arises what is a perfect mix for maximizing well being among all humans. If we increase individual or capitalistic pursuit we will have a free market society. This system will reward...
7 comments
Read more

Morality..

Have you ever pondered why is morality necessary in life? Why our parents want us to be truthful, honest and humble. Why do we hate liars and hypocrites? Why there are numerous stories about the virtue of Good and how every time good wins over the evil in the long run. Are we good because there is an almighty god looking over us and we will be burnt in hell if we do something bad. Are people in general good because they are afraid of God. To me we are more good than evil because that is a logical thing to do. "Good" here i must emphasize symbolizes the greater good of our civilization and human race. It may be relative on an individual basis but on a macro scale being good or having all the positive qualities we hear about is logical and in fact very necessary for the very survival. Imagine a world where its OK to rob your neighbor and bring home their money and goods. With the same logic it should also be OK when one of our neighbors mugged us up. You can clearly visualize ...
8 comments
Read more